The Peoples of the North

Apart from the Guan-speaking Gonja, the Kyokosi or Chokosi (an
Akan-speaking fragment), and the Mande-speaking Busanga in the
northeasternmost part of Ghana, the ethnic groups to the north of the
Black Volta speak Gur or Voltaic languages of the Niger-Congo linguistic
family. Three subgroups of Gur languages--the MoleDagbane (sometimes
called Mossi-Grunshi), Gurma, and Grusi--are represented in this region.
Of the three Gur subfamilies, MoleDagbane is by far the largest, being
spoken by about 15 percent of the nation's population. Its speakers are
culturally the most varied; they include the Nanumba, Dagomba, Mamprusi,
Wala, Builsa, Frafra, Talensi, and Kusase.

For centuries, the area inhabited by the Gur has been the scene of
movements of people engaged in conquest, expansion, and northsouth and
east-west trade. For these reasons, a considerable degree of
heterogeneity, particularly of political structure, developed here.

The structure of many small groups, varied as they are, suggests that
most Gur-speakers once lived in small, autonomous communities and that
the links among these communities were provided by kin groups, which in
their larger extensions cut across community boundaries, and by
intermarriage. The salient figure was not political but ritual--it was
the priest (tendaan; a Mole-Dagbane term) of the earth cult and
shrine. Although primarily a religious figure, the tendaan's
influence was keenly felt in kin-group and community decision making.

In some cases (for example, that of the Talensi), an independent
community or chiefdom was aware that others like it shared the same
culture and social structure, and there were occasional common rituals
that brought independent communities together. In other cases (for
example, the Dagaba), political and cultural boundaries were not sharp,
and there was no sense that an ethnic group included some communities
and excluded others, although shifting distinctions were made based on
various cultural traits. In the case of the Dagaba, the most important
or recurrent of these distinctions seemed to be, and in the
mid-twentieth century continued to be, whether inheritance was
exclusively determined in the patrilineal line or, at least in part,
followed the matrilineal line.

In a few cases, some Mole-Dagbane people developed societies of
larger scale under a ruling dynasty. These included the Dagomba,
Mamprusi, and Gonja, who, like the Akan to the south, were known to have
founded centralized states. Rulers of the centralized MoleDagbane
societies were believed to be related to those of the Mossi kingdoms of
Burkina and the smaller Nanumba kingdoms of Ghana. Historical research
suggests that migrants imposed their rule on peoples already settled in
the area. In some cases, these migrants extended their rule to other
groups, at least for a time. Thus, many of the Gurma-speaking Konkomba
were subject to Dagomba control. The ruling groups still maintain a
clear sense of their own distinction and some cultural and linguistic
peculiarities, but in general they speak the local language.